Quinoa Veggie Burrito Bowl: An Easy Power Lunch

Urvashee Patel | Dessarts
September 9, 2013 8:00 am

Want to make your burrito bowl a little healthier? Check out this recipe that’s lower in carbs and packed with flavorful veggies and quinoa.

Most fast food places were never that appealing to me growing up mostly because there were few vegetarian options. If there was one place I did crave food from, it was Taco Bell. Almost anything there could be made minus the meat and still be somewhat of a meal.

Over the years, I started to prefer the somewhat fresher approach of Qdoba and now Chipotle. I called it palate development but the husband called it food snobbery. It doesn’t matter anymore because we’ve both changed our diet habits in search of healthier food. If we do choose to eat fast food, we usually opt for a Chipotle. We love their burrito bowl option because we can see and control exactly what and how much of each ingredient goes into it.

Recently I’ve been making burrito bowls at home, but I decided to change it up a bit. I replaced the starchy rice with some protein packed quinoa. I used red quinoa for this recipe. It has a slightly earthier taste and doesn’t get as mushy after cooking. Since this is more like a salad, the looser red quinoa works much better for texture.

Quinoa does not have a very strong flavor on its own so I usually cook it in vegetable broth instead of water. You can actually make it have whatever flavors you want. In this case, I used water but added ground cumin into it before cooking and then tossed it with fresh cilantro.

If I could, I would have eaten this burrito bowl topped with some avocado slices in place of the cheese. Sadly, I think I may have developed an avocado allergy. If you love them as much as I do, I think it would make an excellent addition.